Tryst tirade

Ozone Park resident Talwinder Singh, 20, is facing jail time for threatening an off-duty police officer with a metal exercise bar on Friday, February 23, in what was described as a drunken, rage-filled incident that ended with the man being shot.
According to a spokesperson for District Attorney Richard A. Brown, Singh, of 101-58 116th Street, will be charged with attempted burglary, attempted assault, criminal mischief, criminal possession of a weapon and menacing at his arraignment, which is scheduled for Wednesday, February 28.
The incident happened around 8:10 p.m., when Singh allegedly approached New York Police Department Sergeant Quillan Virgil’s home at 101-56 116th Street and tried to break in. A survey of the scene found two missing panels from Virgil’s wrought iron and glass storm door and a damaged front door.
When Virgil, armed with a can of Mace and his service gun, went outside to investigate the noise, Singh allegedly began running toward him with the metal bar.
Virgil fled for half a block until stopping near 103rd Street where he displayed his police badge and gun to Singh before ordering him to drop the bar.
Singh allegedly lunged at Virgil, who then shot him once in each leg.
Exactly what motivated Singh to approach Virgil’s home and caused the eventual shooting remained unclear. Sources close to the investigation believe that Virgil may have told his next-door neighbor—Singh’s landlord—that Singh and the man’s wife were allegedly having an affair.
Others indicated that, for reasons unrelated to the alleged affair, Virgil may have given the landlord advice on how to evict Singh from his basement apartment, which may have angered him.
A third theory holds that Virgil gave his neighbor advice on evicting Singh after first disclosing the affair to him.
Neighbors said that Singh and his landlord’s wife had been romantically involved for months.
“I’ve been hearing rumors that people see them at the laundromat—him sitting in her car,” said Shiek Deen, who lives across the street from both Singh and Virgil.
Deen said he ran out of his house after hearing the two gunshots explode on Friday night and saw Singh sitting on the sidewalk bleeding.
“I feel so sorry,” said Deen, a construction worker originally from Guyana. “He was an easy going guy, he never started trouble.”
Another neighbor who would not give her name had a less positive impression of Singh, whom she said she heard screaming and swearing on the street that night.
“He was not such a nice guy, he was always looking at women up and down,” she said, describing her surprise at learning the shooting resulted from a direct confrontation between Singh and Virgil—not the landlord.
The woman said that she regularly observed Singh leave his basement apartment to go upstairs shortly after his landlord left at about 10 p.m.
“I thought that was the reason for the shooting,” she said. “He was always there before 11 p.m. I never saw him leave.”
Singh could face up to seven years in prison for the incident.
Virgil, who joined the NYPD almost 12 years ago, has been assigned to active administrative duties while the incident is investigated and retains his weapon, a police spokesperson said.